A homeschooling family of nine moves into the blogging neighborhood, thankful for a little space to run and play and call our own...

Saturday, May 03, 2008

Prayers Needed for TN Homeschoolers

The following resolution was sent out by one of our local homeschooling leaders. The situation here in Tennesse is very concerning. If they succeed in making the diplomas of our highschool students invalid, it will be a huge slide backward for freedom in Tennessee.

Whenever we face possible changes in the law that would make what we do illegal, I face the following choices: go to jail OR move to another state. Because complying with their wishes is just not an option. I am constantly reminded of those who have gone before us who were willing to sacrifice in order to fight for freedom. If we compromise when we shouldn't, we dishonor their lives.

In this case, I guess my kids would just have to find a way to do without a diploma. Or I suppose they could take a GED test.

I will be praying but I will not be afraid. I still believe God is God. I'm very thankful that he has placed our representative, who is a dedicated homeschooling father, in the state government at just the right time. I believe God has been preparing a people to be in the right place at the right time. And I'm sure this is just the beginning.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Written in the form of a resolution:

This is a call to prayer and fasting with regard to our efforts to pass HB 1652 and bring relief from the invalidation of Cat. IV diplomas.

Please pass it along as God leads.

Humble yourselves beforeThe Lord God AlmightyWith prayer and fasting

WHEREAS, departments of Tennessee's government have voided diplomas awarded by legally operated Category IV high schools, and

WHEREAS, all remedies to this miscarriage of justice have been fully pursued with meetings held and reasonable resolution sought, but without effect, leaving changing the laws of the State of Tennesseeas the only remedy, and

WHEREAS, Representative Mike Bell has been given HB1652 which is perfectly suitable for correcting this injustice, and

WHEREAS, young Tennesseans with Category IV high school diplomas continue to step forward describing the loss of career, loss of profession, and being fired from their jobs, even though some of them have been awarded degrees from post high school educational institutions and even though their high school diplomas have been acceptable for serving in the United States Navy, the United States Marines and attending post high school educational institutions, and

WHEREAS, the Tennessee Department of Education has described Category IV high school diplomas as "Not worth the paper they are written on", and

WHEREAS, God has mercifully granted to us, even at this late hour in the 105th General Assembly, the opportunity to correct this injustice, and

WHEREAS, students, parents, grandparents, and friends who have been affected by this new policy of the Department of Education plan to contact their State Representative and ask them to support and to co sponsor the bill; they plan to come to Nashville on May 5, 2008 at 3:00 pm before the House of Representatives convenes to talk with their Representative, and

WHEREAS, the State Comptroller'sOffice issued a report analyzing "diploma mills"in Tennessee and found none existing, yet the Department of Education cites thefact that this report was prepared as if it had found diploma mills in the Category IV schools, and

WHEREAS, the Department of Education has determined to use this situation as a vehicle to take over the teacher requirements of the Category IV Church related schools and to increase the requirements for those parents who home school, and

WHEREAS, there is a God, who rules heaven and earth, and this all wise God has delegated to parents, particularly fathers, the responsibility to teach, to train, to prepare their children, and

WHEREAS, throughout recorded history civil governments have historically worked to terminate parents rights in the education of their children, and

WHEREAS, this Constitutional Republic was formed particularly for the purpose of promoting freedom of religion, so that the people so governed would be free in both their conscience and in their persons to enjoy a direct, intimate relationship with the Creator of all that is, the Lord Jesus Christ and to learn freely at His feet and from His Word,

THEREFORE, you are called this day to prepare yourselves to pray and to fast with gentle weeping and calling out in humility to our merciful God on Monday May 5, 2008 asking that our All Powerful God extend our freedom to educate our children away from the corrupting influence of those perverse, usurping men and women wishing to train our children to be dependent on the civil government rather than on God and implore your state representative that he or she work to insure that these Category IV high school diplomas be recognized by all Tennessee Departments as they are by the US Department of Defense and by colleges and universities all across our state and nation .

1 comment:

I think this is good news:http://tenncva.com/2008/05/05/tn-house-education-committee-passes-bill-to-require-state-agencies-to-accept-church-related-school%e2%80%99s-high-school-diplomas-as-valid/#comments

"TN House Education Committee passes bill to require state agencies to accept Church-Related School’s high school diplomas as valid"

"In the meantime, the department of Ed’s representative (Dr. Opie?) had informally circulated an amendment to Rep. Bell’s bill. That amendment would have required CRS’s to only hire instructors with baccalaureate degrees. That amendment was never introduced..."

"May we remember as parents that we are His children, and that He is about the business of changing our hearts, of repairing our ruins, of remaking us. And though He has not finished with us, He has placed in our care His children. May He in His grace keep our hearts aflame for these children. May He give us minds like steel traps that we would never be distracted, that we would not forsake our calling. May He, the great Steward, make us faithful stewards of children, the most precious gifts, of which is the kingdom of God." RC Sproul, Jr.

email us at

shadybrookacres@gmail.com

The Shadybrook Acres Kids

From left to right:Candace, Abel, Kezzi, Annalise, Priscilla, Hope and Luke

About Me:

I've been married to my husband since January of 1987. In November of that year our first daughter arrived. Twenty-one years and seven children later, we are living a full life in rural Tennessee. Our children are ages 22, 21, 19, 17, 15, 13 and 9. We've homeschooled from the start ~ back when two little girls sat at their desks filling out preschool workbooks. Boy, have we learned a lot! Now we don't own any desks at all but instead we prefer to gather at the large kitchen table or in the living room with cozy blankets and hot tea to read many wonderful books. I really do love my life!